The passenger compartment of a vehicle parked outside during a cold day may become very cold, with temperatures reaching that of the ambient air outside the vehicle. Likewise, the passenger compartment of a vehicle parked outside during a hot day may become very hot, very quickly, with temperatures that greatly exceed that of the ambient air outside the vehicle.
Some drivers start a vehicle, activate the vehicle's climate control system, then leave the vehicle until the climate control system begins to heat or cool the vehicle. However, this requires the driver to leave the comfort of the indoors, momentarily enter the vehicle, start the engine and operate the climate control system, and leave the vehicle unattended.
To avoid this, remote starting systems have been developed which allow a driver to start a vehicle without entering the vehicle. However, such systems may be incompatible with hybrid electric vehicles or electric vehicles. Similarly, such systems may lack desired features.
The air conditioning system of a standard vehicle having an internal combustion engine as its prime mover typically employs a compressor. On such a vehicle, this compressor is powered by the internal combustion engine via mechanical energy transferred from the crankshaft to the compressor through the use of a serpentine or v-shaped belt. The heating system of such a vehicle uses waste heat of the internal combustion engine to heat the passenger compartment.
Efforts have been made at remotely activating the climate control system of a hybrid or electric vehicle. U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0075766 to Ziehr et al., for example, discloses a remote climate control system for pre-cooling or pre-heating the passenger compartment of a hybrid vehicle that includes a combustion engine, an electrically activatable window, a heater, an electrically powered blower, and a passenger compartment temperature sensor. The remote climate control system is hard wired to a starter of the combustion engine, the electrically activatable window, the heater, the electrically powered blower, and the passenger compartment temperature sensor.
The remote climate control system includes a controller to read the passenger compartment temperature from the sensor. If the temperature is greater than a first predetermined value, the controller opens the activatable window and activates the electrically powered blower. If the temperature is less than a predetermined value, the controller starts the hybrid vehicle and activates the heater. The heater uses waste heat of the combustion engine to cool the passenger compartment. During cooling or heating, the controller monitors the temperature of the passenger compartment and deactivates the blower and the heater, respectively, when the temperature drops below, or rises above, a second predetermined value.
US Pub. No. 2008/0117079 to Hassan discloses a remote starting system for hybrid vehicles. The remote starting system includes a remote transmitter operable to communicate a start signal and a controller at the hybrid vehicle that receives the start signal. The controller can be coupled to a data communications bus of the hybrid vehicle and processes images captured by at least one imaging device to determine if the images are indicative of the hybrid vehicle being parked in an enclosed environment, such as a garage. The controller starts the combustion engine of the hybrid vehicle in response to the remote transmitter and the processed images. The controller can also control the climate control system of the hybrid vehicle after starting the combustion engine.
In particular, the controller can activate an air conditioning (AC) unit that is mechanically powered by the combustion engine, in order to cool the passenger compartment. The controller may also activate an auxiliary heater coil, or a heater that uses waste heat of the combustion engine, to heat the passenger compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,244 to Mori discloses a plurality of remote climate control systems, each for an electric vehicle, and a common remote transmitter to activate the remote climate control system of each electric vehicle, respectively. Each electric vehicle has an AC unit, a battery, and a sensor to sense the voltage of the battery. The remote climate control system of each vehicle includes a controller that is hard wired to the AC unit and sensor. The controller reads the voltage of the battery using the sensor and selectively operates the AC unit based upon the voltage of the battery and signals received from the common remote transmitter. If the voltage of the battery falls below a predetermined value, the remote climate control system deactivates the AC unit.
In view of the foregoing limitations of the prior art, a remote climate control system having additional features and compatibility may be desirable.